Conveyer table



Dec. 1, 1953 J. xxxxx ls 2,661,080

/m/emor James Xena/ris ATTORNEYS.

J. XENAKIS Dec. l, 1953 CONVEYER TABLE Sheelzs-SheerI 2 /n Ven/0( .James Xena/ns Filed Aug. 4, 1949 VJLK, ATTORNEYS.

J. XENAKIS Dec. 1, 1953 CONVEYER TABLE Filed Aug. 4, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 /n Venfor James XenU/f/'s 5y www Afro/mns.

aeenoeo ing the food items at the counter the tray is pushed by the customer under the glass case towards the counterman, whereupon the counter. or service man pours the food directly into the tray without having to handle any dishes. In such a case the glass cases between the customer` and the food counter must be raised a few inches in order to allow the passage of the tray towards the food counter and back to the customer. Such trays. having symmetrical dish stampings at their bottom (say three or four dishes) afford no didiculty in stacking and present perfect stability when resting on, or being pushed along a hat surface, .As such compartment trays are already known, they are not here described in detail.

The necessary apparatus for an installation as `iust described has a frame-work composed of vertical side members lil, li and horizontal wall members E2, i3, and ends lll, l5. Bearings l of any suitable type support the rollers il supporting the endless conveyor belt it, itc or" any suit able construction. This may be a canvas-rubber belt having a white iiexible plastic facing so as to present a clean, pleasing appearance.

The belt as shown in Figure l extends downwardly at the delivery end into a cleaning tank is where it is engaged and driven by a feed roller 2li suitably supported in the tank and driven in any suitable manner by a motor 2i supported outside the tank on a side wall thereof or in any suitable manner.

Suitably supported on the side walls of tank lil are the cleaning brushes .22, 23 of any suitable construction. These may be driven by motor 2i and are located below the liquid level 2t. Wipers i225 wipe the surplus liquid oil the "belt as it emerges from the liquid.

The lower run iSd of the belt extends longitudinally through the drying chamber 25 formed between. the lower run ltd of the belt and the horizontal wall member i2.

A suitable blower 'ft having a motor 2l (or it may be driven by motor ill) discharges air at 23 (which has been heated 'by any means such as steam coils 29) into the chamber 25- from which the air is 'withdrawn by duct 30.-

Duct 30 opens into a chamber 3l formed by walls E2, Hi, 32, 33 and from 3l returns to the blower.

Ilhe hot air in chamber 25 impinges on the lower -face of the lower run lila of the belt which, in consequence thereof, is dried before it becomes the upper surface of the upper run It of the belt.

The loading stations may be located on one or both sides of the conveyor-table. As all of them are the same in construction, only one of them will be described.

Each station comprises a pair of rails or racks 3d, secured to the main framework and eX- tending outwardly therefrom to form .'spaced apart supports for a tray Sii which freely slides between the rails. The inner edge of the -tray may abut the longitudinally extending members il of the framework which is bent upwardly as indicated at Bil so that a slight inward push is necessary to cause the ltray to ride over the hump slide onto the conveyor I8.

The inner edge of the member 3l overlies the edge of the belt i8 as shown at 39, and the conveyor belt lat this point may have an upstanding lip or bead to extend upwardly into and below the edge El@ to insure that anything spilled at this point will not run olf the sides of the conveyor.

The rails are preferably made in adjacent pairs. fSuch a pair is shown at 35, 40, Figure 1. Upstanding ribs 4I, hold adjacent trays such as 36, spaced apart. A web 42 is between adjacent stations sufficiently wide to provide elbow room for adjacent users of the stations, such as those who would be seated on stools 43, 44.

It will be observed that the space between rails at each station, for example between rails 34 and 35, is kfree and open so that the bottoms of 'the trays, such as 35, are open to permit the person handling them to easily place them in position While supported on one hand below the tray. This also aids the user when pushing the tray from the rails to the conveyor.

The legs 45 spaced at suitable intervals support the outer ends of the rail members and also support the entire unit structure as best seen in Figure 1.

A plurality of shelves 46 supported on standards 4l or in any other suitable manner are located along the conveyor. instead of a plurality of shelves, one long shelf may extend the entire length of the unit. As such a modication is obvious from what is here shown, it is not herein described.

A liquid supply pipe 48 may be supported under the shelves 46 and provided at suitable intervals with valves le so that in the case of restaurant tables the customers may obtain water without leaving their seats.

The walls i0, I2, d3, 33, 32 together with transverse walls y5i) form a plurality of individual compartments in the unit structure, one for each station. Access to these compartments is obtained via openings `5I located immediately in front of each station and easily accessible to the user who can store therein his hat and other iin-pedimentaJ while using the table.

lf desired the conveyor-table just described and the stools may be mounted on a platform 52 so that it may be placed in working position and moved from time to time as a unit.

The operation of the device will be apparent from the foregoing. At the delivery end of the conveyor there is a receiving counter having a hinged top 53 which may lie ilat as shown in F1gure 2 so that trays will be slid thereon, one after -the other, by the action of the conveyor belt. The table top 53 may be located in another room from the conveyor, and an attendant may remove the trays and dishes from the xed rear portion 54 of the counter.

If desired, the hinged top 53 may be elevated as shown at 55 whereupon Ithe trays and their contents will remain on the conveyor and be carried downwardly into tank I9 until they encounter the downwardly sloping ramp 55 which gradually conveys them into the detergent liquid 1n the tank, or conveys them into another tank .o1- dishwasher.

In some instances it is desirable to make the conveyor belt of stainless steel. Such a thin stainless steel belt may be imperforate, or it may be perforated along its edges to be driven by sprockets similar to a motion picture film. As such a `construction of the belt is obvious from the lforegoing description it is not here shown in detail'. When the unit includes a stainless steel belt, 1t is at once apparent that it may be verv eiciently cleaned and fumigated and that such construction eliminates diiculties heretofore met with in apparatus of this character where, unless completely disassembled, it is impossible to clean out roaches and other insects which get into the crevices throughout the device. With the present invention, it is possible to place a suitable germicidal or fumigating agent in the blower 26 and, by covering the entire unit with a tarpaulin, any suitable gas may be distributed throughout the unit penetrating every crack and crevice therein and completely sterilizing all parts of the device.

While the unit table-conveyor has been described in connection with restaurant use, it may be employed to advantage in a large number of other applications. For example, in connection with assembling light articles to be sprayed, the assemblers sit on the stools and each is provided with a tray containing the parts of the device to be assembled. The -device is assembled on the tray and when the parts are assembled, the tray with the assembled article is pushed onto the conveyor. The completed article on the tray may be sprayed with lacquer or a protective coating via the pipe 48 which may then be equipped with any suitable form of spray nozzles instead of the faucets 49. The sprayed articles are conveyedv to the table 54 in the manner previously described. If desired, an attendant provided at the table 51 at the starting end of the conveyor (and said table may be mounted upon the base 52) may supply parts to the assemblers seated on the stools by moving the parts from the table 57 on to the conveyor belt so that a great deal of running around on the part of the assemblers is eliminated.

The constructional details of the unit have notbeen gone into in detail as it is obvious that the framework of the unit may be quickly assembled by welding. The rails 34, 35 may also be welded to the main assembly, and the legs 45 can be welded to the rails and the side walls, suchaslilandll.

As the fabrication of structures of this character is well understood, it is believed that other details of construction will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A restaurant table structure comprising a horizontal frame open along its top and having longitudinally extending side walls, an endless conveyor belt extending longitudinally in said frame between the side walls thereof and having an upper flight exposed through the open top of the frame, tray supports disposed laterally of said frame and projecting outwardly from the side walls thereof forming service stations, shelves supported between said service stations and extending over said conveyor, strips extending along upper edges of said side walls and having portions projecting outwardly from the side walls at a downward incline in overlying relation to inner portions of the trays and also having portions projecting inwardly from the side walls at a downward incline and overlapping side edge portions of the upper night of said conveyor belt, portions of said conveyor extending downwardly at one end thereof, and a rotary brush mounted in said frame to Contact said downwardly extending portion of said belt.

2. A restaurant table structure comprising a I horizontal frame open along its top and having longitudinally extending side walls, an endless conveyor belt extending longitudinally in said frame between the side wallsthereof and having an upper flight exposed through the open top of the frame, tray supports consisting of brackets spaced from each other longitudinally of the side Walls and projecting outwardly therefrom and providing service stations carrying tray supportn ing plates carried by said brackets and disposed laterally of the walls in position for engaging under side edge portions of trays and provided with upstanding longitudinally extending ribs for engaging side edges of trays resting upon the plates, shelves supported between said service stations and extending over said conveyor, strips mounted along upper edges of said side walls and having side portions overlapping inner ends of said plates and other side portions overlapping side portions of the upper flight of said conveyor, portions of said conveyor extending downwardly at one end thereof and a rotary brush mounted in said frame to Contact said downwardly extending portion of said belt.

JAMES XENAKIS.

^ References Cited in the le 0f this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,648,531 Bayley Nov. 8, 1927 1,705,112 Hall Mar. 12, 1929 1,722,342 St. John July 30, 1929 1,793,246 Philips Feb. 17, 1931 1,825,951 Hall Oct. 6, 1931 1,865,596 Starks July 5, 1932 1,938,577 Brand Dec. 12, 1933 1,949,468 Hackett Mar. 6, 1934 2,235,941 Montgomery Mar. 25, 1941 2,334,721 McMordie et al Nov. 23, 1943 

